Float gauge



E. F. BAcoN 1,930,546

FLOAT GAUGE lFiled Au@ 24. 19:51

Y f acazz $1; M Wg Patented `Oct. 17, 1933 PATENT OFFICE FLOAT GAUGEElbridge F. Bacon, Flint, Mich., assigner to A C v Spark Plug Company,Flint, Mich., a company of Michigan Application August 24, 1931. SerialNo. 559,042

6 Claims. (Cl. 'I3-82) This invention relates to a liquid level gaugeand has particular reference to improvements relating to the tank unitinstalled at the container or gasoline tank of automotive vehicles.

In the use of electrical gasoline` gauges of the type shown in thepatent issued to Bacon, No. 1,791,786 on Feb. 10, 1931, it was foundthat there was rapid'vibration of the pointer due to the rapid changesin liquid level when the vehicle was in motion. These changes in liquidlevel' are caused by waves or surges in the gasoline in the tank whichcause the float to bob up and down. This rapid upward and downwardmovement caused a corresponding rapid movement of the pointer and insome instances the movement or vibration was so rapid that the pointerwas no longer visible. The present invention has for its object toincorporate in a gasoline gauge tank unit a means to dampen the rapidoscillations of the float because of waves or surges in the liquid andalso to combine with the tank unit a ventilation opening and theordinary outilow pipe from the tank. The ordinary outlet or gasolinepipe from the tank usually has been separately constructed from the tankunit which necessitated the making of a separate opening in the tank. l

The construction for obtaining the dampening of the float comprises awasher which surrounds one of the movable members of the gaugemechanism. A plate is placed over the washer and a coil spring forcesthe plate against the washer to create a frictionalvmovement to retardthe movements Aof the member. The friction ,created by the spring andwasher is not suinciently great to prevent the movement of the float butwill retard or prevent any small movement such as is caused by a wave orsurge in the liquid in the tank.

On the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a container in section with the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailed perspective view of the lower portion ofthe tank unit.

Fig. 3 is a section through the lower portion of the tank unit.

Fig.Y 4 is a sectional plan view of the mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 of a modification.

On the drawing the number 2 indicates a suitable liquid container suchas the gasoline tank of an automotive vehicle. The tank has .the opening4 at its upper portion which is closed by a housing 6. The 1housing hasthe annular ange 8 having the openings 10 for the reception of machinelscrews 12, by means of which it is secured to the tank. A plate 14 tsover` the flange 8 which has the edge 16 crimped thereover as is bestshown in Fig. 1. The housing 6 preferably is flattened at one side asshown at 18 and. onthe flange 8 at the flattened side there is securedthe bracket 20 having the upstanding finger 22 notched as at 24 toreceive and support the gasoline pipe line 26. The bracket 20 is securedto the flange 8 by means of rivets 28 which pass through a flange 8 andplate 14. The machine screws 12 pass through the opening 30 in thebracket 20. The bracket 20 as well as the flange 8 and plate14 have 70the conformable openings 32 through which the outlet pipe 26 passes. Theoutlet pipe 26 extends to the bottom of the container as shown at 34 inFig. 1.

Interiorly of thehousing 6, preferably at the cylindrical side, there ismounted the resistance 36 electrically connected to the housing at oneend by means of the rivet 38 but insulated therefrom over the remainderof its extent. The other end of the resistance is in electrical contactwith the terminal 40 which has the electric wire 42 connected theretoand leads to a differential galvanometber such as is disclosed in thepreviously mentioned Bacon patent. I

Bracket 46 is mounted on the plate 14 by 85 means of rivets extendingthrough the plate 14. The bracket 46 has its ends turned at right anglesas indicated at 48 and 50, the upper angled. portion 48 serving as ameans to attach the bracket to the plate 14, suitable rivets passingthrough openings in the part 48 and through openings in the plate 14. Ashaft 52 is turnably mounted in the bracket 46 and has its upper end 54(Fig. 4) turned at right angles to point in the direction of theresistance 36.

-Stops 55 limit the swing of the end 54. A contact cap 56 preferably ofsilver, or silver plated,

or a silver alloy is loosely tted on the end` 54 and the coil spring 58resiliently urges the cap 56 on the resistance. The silver or silver 100alloy contact cap is the invention of Jay T.

Ford. y

At the lower end of the shaft 52 there is permanently mounted thejournal member or 'bearing 60 and the gear 62. The journal mem- 105 ber60 is stepped and has the upper enlarged portion 64 which rests on thelower angle member 50 of the bracket 46; the bearing portion 66 whichpasses through an opening in the angle at50 andforms the journal onwhich the shaft 11,0

52 turns; and the reduced end 68 to receive the opening in the gear 62.The end is peened over at 70 to secure the gear on the journal member60.

The angular end 5 0 is recessed as indicated at 72 and receives thefinger 74 formed as an exf tension oi' a plate 76 having a centralopening through which the shaft 52 passes. The finger 74 extendssubstantially at right angles to a plate '76. l member '78, preferablyof non-metallic material, is positioned between the plate '16 and theen'- larged portion 64 of the journal member 60. A coil spring 80surrounds the shaft 52 and is held thereon by the pinched portions 82formed on the shaft as shown inFig. 2. The pinched portions 82 and theplate 76 corinne the spring 80 under tension therebetween. The spring 80constantly urges the plate '76 against the washer 78 to produce frictionwhich will retard the rotary movement of the shaft 52.

A segment 84 is turnably mounted on the upright portion of the bracket46 by means of the journal pin 88 which is preferably rigidly mounted inthe bracket. The pin 88 has the enlarged head 90 and the bearing portion92. The segment 84 has an opening corresponding to the bearing portion92.

'Ihe upper portion of the segment is forked and has the tines 94 of thefork bent over onto flattened portions 96 on a float arm or rod 98.'I'he rod 98 has a suitable cork or other float 100 attached to theangularly bent end 102. The extreme upper and lower portions of the oat100 are shown at 100 and 100" A suitable finger 104 is pressed from theupright portion of the-bracket 46 to form a stop to limit the swing ofthe float arm 98. Either.

the arm 98 or its freev end strikesv against the finger 104, for theextreme positions of the float 100.

The operation of the structure showing in Figs. 1 to -4 inclusive is asfollows: Assuming that the vehicle is standing still and the float is inthe position shown in full lines of Figure 1 the contact 56 will be atsubstantially the mid point of resistance 36 to indicate that the tankis half full. When the vehicle starts in motion it will cause the level106 of the gasoline to change because of the waves or surges in theliquid. The surges or waves will cause the float 100 rapidly to move orbob up and down, which rapid movement would cause a corresponding rapidmovement of the contact cap 56 and of the pointer o f the differentialgalvanometer shown in the Bacon patent referred to-inthe foregoing. Thefriction created by the vpressure of the spring between the plate 76enlarged portion 64 and washer 'I8 will be sufficient to retard orsubstantially prevent small .movements in thefloat but is not sufficientto prevent movement thereof such as,are necessary when the level of theliquid falls gradually from float position 100 to float position 100 or100". This prevention of the smaller movements of the float will preventoscillations in the pointer of the galvanometeron the instrument boardand will therefore give a more accurate reading of the liquid level inthe tank.

By referringlto Fig. 4 it will be noted that small vent openings 108vand 109 have been placed in the housing 6 toward the top portionthereof, and in the plate 14, respectively, to act as air or ventopenings' for the tank 2. In the prior practice it was customary lio-Supply a sep- A washer or other suitable friction' y element and theplate.

arate goose neck to) obtain the desired ventilation. In the presentinvention the goose neck is eliminated and the function thereofperformed by the openings v108 and 109 in the housing and plate of theliquid level tank unit.

Fig. 5 is a modification of the structure shown in Fig. 3 andaccomplishes the same function andA object. In Fig. 5 the journal pin 88has an extension 110 with an opening 112 in the end thereof. The segment84 is provided with an opening 114 for the reception of the tongue 74 ofthe plate 76. A friction washer or member '78 of metallic ornon-metallic material is conned by the plate 76 and the head 90 of theJournal member 88. A coil spring 80' has its end 116 secured in theopening 112 and re-` siliently presses the plate 'I6 against thefriction washer 78. The operation of the structure Fig. 5 is the same asthat of Figs. 2 and 3, except that the friction is created at thejournal pin 88' instead of at the end of the shaft 52.

I claim:

1. In a liquid level guage for containers, a float mechanism mounted onand extending into said container, said mechanism including a bracket, ashaft turnably mounted in said bracket and operating an element of theliquid level gauge, a float arm having a float connected thereto, meansinterconnecting said arm and' shaft to communicate movements of thefloat to the shaft, friction means on said interconnecting means, and aspring confined on said shaft acting on said friction means to restrainsaid shaft from turning to dampen oscillations or sudden ,no

movements of the float.

2. In a liquid level gauge for containers, a oat mechanism mounted onand extending into said container, said mechanism including a bracket, abearing, a shaft mounted at one end in said bearing and operating aportion of the gauge, float operated means for turning said bearing andshaft, friction means on said bearing, and acoil spring confined aroundsaid shaft and acting on said friction means to retard the turningmovement of the shaft and bearing to compensate for sudden changes inthe liquid level.

3. In a liquid level gauge, a container having a liquid the level-ofwhich is to be determined, a bracket rigidly mounted relative to andextend` ing into the container, a shaft rotatably mounted in thebracket, a float arm having a float secured 4. In a liquid level gauge,a noat mechanism responsive to changes in liquid level,means forretarding the movement of said mechanism,

comprisingl a bearing element on said mechanism, friction means mountedlon said bearing element, a plate over the element, a spring. and meansto mount the spring lto cause said spring to press the friction meansbetween the bearing 5. In a liquid level gauge, a float mechanismresponsive to changes inliquid level, a bracket forming a part of saidmechanism, means for retarding the movement of said mechanism,com 150nal into frictional engagement with the friction means.

6. In a liquid level gauge, a geared mechanism having a oat armresponsive to changes in liquid level, said mechanism including abracket, a bearing pin rigidly mounted in the bracket, one member of thesaid mechanism being mounted on said bearing pin, friction means mountedon the pin, a plate mounted on the pin and connected to the said onemember to move therewith, and a spring mounted on the pin and pressingagainst the plate to increase the friction between the plate and pin.

ELBRIDGE F.'BACON.

